Learning

Goals and Ambition: The Don Bowers Race- Part 3

By musher - Posted on February 5th, 2010

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In the last entry I described, in some detail, what the runs of the Don Bowers were like- the mechanics.

But in reality, the race has another side to it- emotions.

This is, maybe, the most important factor in the dogs performance!

Yes, you must have properly trained them. Yes, they must receive the correct nutrition. Yes, to too many other things to list- but the emotions of the musher deeply effect the dogs.

The saying is “you can't push a rope” and it is so true. The dogs have to want to run for us. And they do! With all their heart! Just watch them in training when you pull out the sled and lines- they go crazy wanting to go for a run. It's in their genetic code as deeply as any lab's desire to chase a ball or retrieve a stick.

It's all fun for them- until it's not.

And I think the fun goes away the second I stop having fun. The second I start treating the race as anything but an extended training run. So that's why it's worth describing my emotions on the race. It's just totally interesting how much they effect the dogs.

The race started out mentally slow and relaxed for me. I had a nice, achievable race plan and no pressure to perform relative to the other teams around me. We ran into our first rest smooth and on track with the slight exception that I got a little frustrated that they slowed down a bit at the end. Actually they slowed enough so that at mile 40 a few teams started to pass us, where as prior to that we were all running in a bit of a bubble at the same speed just a few minutes apart from each other.

That frustration built a bit but I did a good job controlling it, understanding that they were a young team at the end of a hard run through hot temps. I never said anything to them as we slowed and then took our break a few miles early to limit the distance we spent traveling slowly.

My thought at the time was that a good rest would perk them back up, the setting sun would bring colder temps, and the trail would harden up some. All of which turned out to be true and once we got back on the trail we were ripping along again much faster than on our first run- making up the time we had spent going slow!

I was stoked! Emotionally totally pumped at their performance and the decisions I had made! All of which fed back on itself to produce a really great run!

In retrospect though, there might have been a few emotional cracks as I waited out their rest break. It was sunset and I always get down around then anyway but the doubt produced by their drooping performance at the end of the first run didn't help. I worked through it though, by building a small fire and keeping myself busy collecting wood while I waited. Then, when it was time to go, they got so excited they pulled the hook and took off before I was even ready- kind of a pain, but their energy got me excited and away we went!

Late into the second run, with about 10 miles to go- I got really sleepy! Immediately the dogs performance dropped off and we slowed down a fair amount. But then we heard a train whistle in the distance. We can hear that from the house and so it was kind of exciting to hear on the race. Plus, I knew it meant we were almost into the checkpoint. I got excited. The dogs got excited. And away we went... looping into the checkpoint looking like we just started out rather than wrapping up a hundred mile run!

And then came the 8 hr mandatory layover.

I couldn't sleep.

I got lonely.

I questioned everything I was doing.

When it was over we left with me having been awake for over 30 hours! Stupid!

The dogs looked like crap. My sled looked like crap. Even the crystal clear view of mt. Denali looked like crap!

I should have slept because in reality nothing was wrong. After about 5 miles of stop and go running where I was running up to fix every little tangle- something I NEVER do in training- we finally got going. I was frustrated and totally doubted we could even finish! Ahh... not again... my own worse enemy!

Anyway, despite me, the dogs took off and we had a GREAT run for about 35 miles. Or a total run of about 40, which is the exact distance they had trouble during each of the previous runs. It just seems to be a bit of either a physical or mental block for this team at this stage in their lives.

But at that point I was nearing 40 hours without sleep and didn't see it so rationally. I thought the world was crumbling and was certain if I shut the team down for a rest the would never get up. So I made the decision to break my race plan and try to run straight through to the finish.

I got excited at the idea of making such a bold move and- once again- the dogs picked up on it and away we went!

Right up to the point where passed our camp from the trip up!

The pups went from 10.3mph to 0.3mph in about 10 feet!

I then struggled for THREE hours to cover less than a mile! Frustration doesn't even begin to describe my emotions!

In my mind everything I had spent the last 2 years working for was crumbling around me! I was certain I would never race again. Considered getting out of dogs all together. Was thinking everything I was was a big joke!

Finally I gave in, camped the dogs, built a fire, dried my gear, pulled out my sleeping bag and slept!

I woke up freezing, ran up and down the trail to warm up, woke up the dogs and took off......

Whooooooosh!

Away we went. I was refreshed from nap, excited to be under a full moon with my dogs and totally stoked to be on the move again!

We ran the last 40 miles in just a hair over 4hrs. Nearly 2mph faster than we train for and at the end of 200 miles... the longest run of the pups lives!

It was a GREAT finish- 6 hrs later than planned- but still, with a strong dog team that I had trouble stopping at the truck!

And now, nearly a week removed the race, it's clear that all the trouble I have ever had on races is from my own head! The result of getting negative.

And isn't that just the truth of life!

Stay positive!

Oh... and the picture at the top? It's symbolic because in the middle of a sleep deprived race everything is hyper-contrasted... positive/negative... and now I know what's the next thing I need to work on to someday be the kind of dog driver i want to be1

CILC E-Note

By admin - Posted on October 8th, 2009

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During the summer, Rich worked with CILC, Dawn Collita, to help together a CILC E-note for their newsletter. This recently was published, and it is a fantastic article. But it also gave Rich a great chance to verbalize exactly our philosophy. So below I have pasted in the original thoughts he put together. You can also view the article here.

What is the role of topic in motivating learning across Content Standards?

The idea is that the passion for a topic that the presenter truly feels exists. Projects can then be contagious- inspiring students to self-motivated learning. Teachers can then guide that self-motivation into the specific academic subjects that they need to cover based on the content standards they are individually working on in the classrooms.

This could then carry into the concept of teachers as Guides- passionate themselves in the topic of how people learn (which is a somewhat hidden concept to most students).

As Guides, they can tap into the topic specific passion and knowledge that "Content Providers" can deliver. And going further, a well structured system of using IVC events in series and ongoing Web 2.0 tools centered on how to adapt the Topic to the Content Standards can act as a hub for teachers and “content providers” (who should really be called “Topic Providers”) to work together and build a longer lasting relationship than the typical one hour virtual field trip allows- to the benefit of the students overall learning experience, as well as, their success on specific Content Standards.

Again, all premised on the basic assumption that the best learning is self-motivated learning. And that the best teachers are the guides that excite us to learn through our own, and others, passion (founded on teaching via research supported Best Practices).

____________________________________________________________

Have you actually pursued this idea far enough to have an example to share?

A fair amount actually, we originally created Kigluait Educational Adventures based around this concept with two main curriculum "modules." The first is the "Virtual Sled Dog Race," the we still organize each spring, and the second is titled "The cultural Map," and was a piece of curriculum we created for the remote Bush-Alaska school district of Bering Straits.

Both pieces of curriculum were created to address identified needs in specific Content Areas. The Topic for each was chosen based on our personal passions- in the case of the Virtual Sled Dog Race- and a district wide student body survey for the Cultural Map.

Each uses single and multiple IVC events to hook students into the Topic and then relies on various, and ever evolving, Web 2.0 tools to build on the energy of the events. A big part of this is accomplished through continued communication between students, teachers, and content provider, as well as a central clearing house of resources, base-activities, Rubrics/scoring guides, a place to post activity adaptations, examples of student work, etc.

Also, we have developed all our Mushing series virtual field trips around the idea that a teacher could participate in any one of them individually- having a complete and whole experience- or could choose to run them in a sequence, building a bigger unit around the Topic of mushing based on their content area needs. This past school year we worked Decatur School in Texas to do just this using the Web 2.0 component as a bridge between the IVC events.

All of this is centered around the idea of using the Topic as a hook and identifying (and referencing) Content Area needs to drive the academic methodologies.

Really, all this is is simply using a typical Project-Based, or Experiential Learning based approach to meeting academic goals and then taking advantage of the incredible power of modern communication to reach out and extend the teachers ability to bring in Topic experts to his or her curriculum. The twist, as I see it, is that the if the Content Provider also understands the academic goals of the teacher they can become more of a partner than one-time presenter.

1) What are the benefits to using a Project/Experiential-based learning system when teaching Academic Content standards?

Allows more than one Academic Content area and specific standard to be addressed at one time
Allows room to structure learning to address multiple learning styles
By giving many project opportunities each year it delivers a more holistic learning experience than simply isolating the Content Standards and teaching them sequentially- it more closely mimics the natural learning process and is frankly, just more in line with how we all want to teach and be taught.

2) What are the Best Practices associated with Project/Experiential-based learning systems? And how can the use of modern communication technology support those practices?

Based on Wiggins and McTighe’s concept of Backwards Design
- Establish learning objectives
- Determine how to asses if objectives are met
- Lay out learning steps to meet objectives.
Plan in a “Real-World” component to the outcome that provide a reason for the learning that the students can sympathize with.
And from personal experience have a STRONG HOOK to get students excited about what they are going to learn.

Content Standards play the role of determining what your learning objectives are going to be. Topic provides the strong hook and real-world connection. And modern communication technology, h323, Skype, web-based social networks, etc, provides an opportunity to increase the “real-world” portion of the project and vastly enrich the resources the teacher has to work with when developing his/her learning steps plan.

3) How can a strong working relationship between Content Providers and Teachers improve the effectiveness of the student's learning with regards to Content Standards? Why would the Content Provider be the "hub" in that relationship?

This is a simple question if first you accept the concept of Project Based Learning guided by the principals of Backwards Design.

Teachers are the experts in the Content Standards that need to be addressed in their classroom
“Topic Providers” are the experts in their respective fields

Clearly, working together is the way to achieve the best results. Not sure much of an argument could be made against collaboration along these lines.

Content/Topic Providers should act as the “hub” in this collaboration for the very simple reason that teachers and technology coordinators currently approach them to determine what topics are available to incorporate into their classroom. Because of this Content/Topic Providers- with some work on their side- can easily maintain a data bank/social network for teachers interested in their particular topic to share how and what Content Standards they have addressed through exploration of that particular Content/Topic providers field of expertise (there does, of course, need to be some consistency in how this is done and I could elaborate more if you would like).

From the teachers perspective this works much the same as how they currently use Cilc to determine what topics from Content Providers are available. Once they determine a topic then they make sure the Provider is flexible in adapting to their Content Standard needs during an event(s) but also see how other educators have used and adapted the topic to meet Content Standard needs, and finally have the ability to share their own adaptations.

1. Best Practice: As a Content Provider, please give a Best Practice

example of this concept--reaching beyond the norm of a one time event chosen by the teacher.

So our Best Practice for this involves a few things:

General curriculum development:
1. Uses ideas from Backwards Design to develop base units for each program
2. Start with the model of a 3 session event- 1)teacher led Pre-activity, 2)live videoconference event, 3)teacher led Post-activity
3. Ensure that videoconference event is “stand alone” for classrooms that don’t do pre and post activities
4. Build web 2.0 “course” around program that utilize a number of different web-based technologies (specifics ones ever changing as new applications are developed) in order to allow platform for teacher to build the program into larger classroom units/curriculums
5. Provide opportunities for teachers to collaborate with provider as well as other teachers
Open line of communication with individual teachers as soon as possible to determine teacher’s classroom goals in participating in the program. Adapt and flex to help meet these goals.

2. Lesson Learned: What in particular have you learned from this

experience that would encourage others to dive in?

Well, first, personal experience has led me to understand that I can learn anything- including statistics and calculus- if I have a real-world, personally meaningful, reason to learn it. The many different Topics covered out there by the various content providers is a huge opportunity for teachers to tap into that type of motivation in their students.

We have seen this many times when we see excitement build from the introduction of a good hook about sleddogs through to the nitty-gritty direct instruction of complicated Content Standards (statistics, genetics, etc, etc) that are required to truly understand the fine art of mushing.

Of course this requires a few things: First, Content Providers need to do a better job of setting up the flexible system infrastructures needed to develop real collaborations with classroom teachers. Second, teachers need better training on how incorporate this type of resource into their teaching fundamentals.

3. Lingering Question: What question would you like to throw out to our readers related to this topic?

That’s easy! I would ask them to look back into their own learning histories and describe the environment of their best learning experiences. Then I would ask them to analyze the learning environment they create everyday in their classroom. And, finally and would ask them to think about how modern digital communication technology could help bridge any gaps between those two learning environments.

Start of 2009/2010 season!

By musher - Posted on August 3rd, 2009

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It's the start of a new dog training season!

I have to admit after such a horrible couple attempts at Iditarod that for the past two years I have been reeling a bit to get competitive mushing back into my life.

After the 07' Iditarod I did a LOT of evaluating about our whole kennel operation. This resulted in starting a few long term plans to try and turn the bum experiences I was having trying to race dogs.

The first was getting Tina involved actually running the dogs. And while she had been around them as long as I had, her actual experiences with them were very much a sideline activity in her life. That's changed and for the last two years se has been raising and running her very own dogs.

The second was to breed in some faster, "sprint-e-er," dogs into our working class genetic lines. We've done that and now have a crop of yearlings that have been trained from birth to be race dogs rather than "wood-haulers!"

This year will be the test to see how these two changes come together!

shoveling snow